While I was chanting a curse, the system said I was Xiao Yan?

Chapter 165 All Parties

Tianyan hovered in mid-air, looking down at the brown torrent surging towards him, and the tall humanoid curse spirit in the center of the torrent, and took a deep breath.

He looked at the dense swarms of cockroaches that filled the entire street and were climbing the exterior walls of the buildings on both sides. He knew that with this scale and coverage, conventional methods of combat were useless. He couldn't eliminate them one by one, nor could he find a foothold in this completely occupied area. He had to use the fastest method possible.

He took a deep breath and activated the Heavenly Fire Three Transformations!

In that instant, pink flames surged forth from his body, not from the surface of his skin, but from every pore and every vein, as if something inside him had been ignited.

Pink flames formed a thick armor of fire around him, completely enveloping him from head to toe. The flames crackled in the air, emanating a sweet yet dangerous aura.

The Heavenly Fire Three Transformations was a secret technique he had obtained by completing the Alchemist Conference mission. It enhanced his strength by converting the power of flames. At this moment, he did not increase his speed or strength, but instead concentrated all the enormous amplification on the output and coverage of the pink flame.

His body, like a pink shooting star, fell from the sky and plunged into the sea of ​​cockroaches.

The moment the small cockroaches at the very front came into contact with the pink flame, their bodies exploded violently—not burning, but exploding. The magical power within each cockroach was ignited the instant it touched the pink flame, expanding from the inside out and then bursting open.

Dark brown carapace fragments and internal slime splattered in all directions, and those flaming fragments touched nearby cockroaches, triggering a new chain of explosions.

"Clap clap clap clap clap!"

The continuous, dense explosions made the entire street seem like it was set off by a string of firecrackers, spreading upwards layer by layer from the bottom.

Wherever the Heavenly Flame passed, the pink flames automatically burned through a straight channel. The brown torrents surged and retreated to both sides like receding tides in front of this channel, but those that couldn't retreat in time would turn into a bursting fireball the moment they came into contact with the pink flames.

The compound eyes of the humanoid cockroach spirit detected the characteristics of those pink flames. They were not ordinary fire; to the spirit, they were like poison. If it touched even a little, it would be completely ignited from the inside out.

It instinctively stopped its forward momentum, its legs rapidly stomping on the floor, its body retreating into the depths of the cockroach swarm, attempting to use the sweat it had created as cover to escape the battlefield.

Although the large number of ordinary cockroach spirits would be burned to death by the powder fire, if there were enough of them, they might be able to barely slow down the advance of the powder fire.

Sensing its retreat, Tianyan flapped its purple-gold wings and instantly transformed its high-speed advance into a short-range burst of speed, leaving a pink afterimage in the air. In the blink of an eye, it broke through the cockroach swarm and appeared behind the humanoid cockroach spirit.

Tianyan opened his hands from behind, then suddenly closed them together, embracing the humanoid cockroach spirit from behind.

This gesture resembles a warm hug for an old friend, but for the cockroach in front of him, which is made of cursed power, the pink flames flowing on his arms and chest, though not very hot, are the most deadly weapon!

The glossy, dark brown carapace began to crack the moment it came into contact with the pink flames, making a popping sound. The humanoid cockroach spirit let out a sharp screech, its eight thin legs frantically digging at the ground, trying to break free, but Tianyan's arms remained motionless, like iron hoops welded to its waist.

"Curse and kill in one's arms!"

Tianyan's arms tightened inwards abruptly, and the purple-gold curse power and pink fire erupted simultaneously at the point of contact, applying immense force to the humanoid curse spirit's carapace, which had already been brittled by the pink fire, within a very short distance.

"Snap!"

The entire body of the cursed spirit was forcibly severed at the waist, separating the upper and lower body. A purplish-black liquid gushed out from the break, instantly evaporating into a foul-smelling mist upon contact with the pink flames.

The light in its compound eyes quickly dimmed, and its mouth opened and closed twice, uttering a muffled syllable that sounded like "iron taste," before it fell completely still. Its broken body crashed to the ground, pink flames still burning at the broken edges.

Its lower body then fell to the ground, and immediately both parts of its body began to turn into black mist, which quickly dissipated into the air.

Tianyan loosened his arms, straightened his body, and looked down at the dissipating black mist. The pink flames on his body slowly receded back into his body. The amplification effect of the Heavenly Fire Three Transformations faded, and a slight feeling of exhaustion came from the depths of his dantian, which he suppressed by circulating his incantation.

The cockroaches that had been swarming wildly froze the moment the humanoid cursed spirit was killed. Like a group of machines that had lost their signal, they circled around blankly for a few moments before quickly moving away from the Heavenly Flame that they perceived as extremely dangerous.

Tianyan looked at the swarming cockroaches. Although he was curious as to why these cursed spirits hadn't disappeared, he knew he couldn't just leave them alone. The scene of them devouring humans was still quite shocking. Compared to ordinary cursed spirits, these things were obviously more dangerous to ordinary people.

He landed on the ground, his hands igniting with pink flames. He pressed his hand to the ground, and a ring of pink flames appeared from beneath his hand, spreading outwards from his body like a slow but unstoppable tide, spreading along the ground in all directions.

The remaining cockroach swarms were like snow exposed to the sun in front of the pink flames. They tried to escape, but the pink flames were faster than them. Wherever the flames passed, the dark brown shells cracked continuously.

Every cockroach touched by the flame explodes instantly, and the flying debris ignites nearby cockroaches, which are then swept forward by the pink flames.

Tianyan stood outside the rolling range of the pink fire wall, watching the circle of flames advance outward at a steady speed, wiping out the swarm of cockroaches wherever it passed.

The area covered by the pink flames grew larger and larger in the chain reaction, spreading from one block to another, like a constantly expanding ring of fire.

The characteristic of powder fire is that it is a natural nemesis of cursed spirits, but its destructive power on ordinary materials is limited. The roller shutters of those shops, the utility poles on the roadside, and the asphalt on the ground were all intact the moment they came into contact with powder fire. The low temperature did not melt or burn them like ordinary flames.

The fuel for the powder fire is magical energy, not matter.

In this way, there is no need to worry about it spreading out of control.

But just then, he noticed something not good.

Instead of fleeing to open areas on the ground, the cockroaches chose to retreat through the gaps in the open manhole covers and drainage ditches. Their small, dark brown bodies surged into the dark pipe openings like a tide, disappearing into the ground in the blink of an eye. Tianyan caught a glimpse of the sinking cockroaches out of the corner of his eye and frowned slightly.

"Besides rats and turtles, what else is in the sewers again?"

Before he finished speaking, the pink flames had already reached the edges of the manhole covers. Like a pack of hounds that had caught the scent of their prey, the pink flames surged into the underground pipe system through the gaps.

The flames spread several times faster in the narrow pipe than on the ground. They bounced, reflected, and spread across the pipe walls, catching up with the swarm of cockroaches fleeing deep underground. Then, something was ignited deep inside the pipe where the cockroaches had burrowed.

Biogas! And gas pipelines too!

Tianyan's body reacted faster than his brain. Almost the instant he felt the first tremor from the ground, he suddenly spread his wings and soared into the sky.

"boom!"

The first explosion came from the manhole at his feet. The iron manhole cover shot into the sky like a cannonball fired from a cannon, tracing an arc as it spun before crashing into a second-floor window of a shop.

Then came the second and third explosions. The ground of the entire commercial street resembled a giant python awakening, spewing out reddish-yellow flames and thick smoke from every manhole and the exit of every underground pipe. The explosions were continuous, like a volcanic eruption that had been fast-forwarded. The restaurants also began to explode, and the pink flames still above were swept upwards by the high-temperature airflow caused by the explosions.

Flames soared into the sky, and waves of heat surged in from all directions, sending Tian Yan tumbling twice through the air. He steadied himself, hovering over a hundred meters above the ground, looking down at the burning city below. A slight twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth: ————

I miscalculated.

The gas pipelines along the entire block exploded like a string of firecrackers ignited by a fuse, bursting outwards from the center. The orange-yellow flames of the explosions intertwined with the remaining pink flames, forming a huge fireball of two colors that slowly rose into the sky above the commercial district.

Dozens of kilometers away, another area was shrouded in gray fog.

Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu stood on the second-floor terrace of a half-collapsed shopping mall, facing the huge fireball that suddenly rose on the distant horizon.

The fireball had a strange color; the outer layer was a reddish-yellow ordinary flame, while the inner layer had a blurry pink halo, like a giant cherry blossom caught in ordinary flames, which stood out against the gray sky background.

Haibara Yu squinted at it for a long time, then suddenly slammed his hand on the railing: "Nanami! That color... doesn't it look a bit like Tenyan-senpai's technique?"

Nanami Kento frowned slightly. He stared at the slowly dissipating fireball outline and remained silent for a moment. "The color is somewhat similar, but not quite the same. Senior Tianyan's flames are pure pink, while this fireball is wrapped in a layer of ordinary yellow flames, as if it was a mixed effect produced after being ignited by something."

Haibara Yu scratched his head: "Could it be that Senior Tenyan is fighting someone? That direction seems to be a commercial area, right? Should we go check it out?"

Nanami Kento was silent for a moment, then shook his head: "If it really is Senior Tianyan, an explosion of that magnitude, whether caused by Senior Tianyan or by the enemy he was facing, is beyond our ability to intervene. We wouldn't be able to help, and might even be a burden to him."

Although Haibara Yu's expression was somewhat conflicted, he still nodded: "You're right... we really can't help if we go there now."

A voice came from behind them, carrying a businesslike calm: "Whether we can get through this or not, let's get through this hurdle first."

Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu turned their heads at the same time. The speaker was a young man wearing a dark gray suit, with a thin build and neatly combed hair. He was holding a red wooden mallet in his hand.

He stood on the edge of the rooftop, his gaze fixed on the wide river not far ahead, his expression unreadable: "We have our own troubles here."

Nanami and Haibara followed the gaze of their wild sorcerer companion whom they had met by chance.

The river wasn't wide, about two thousand meters. Various kinds of garbage and wood chips floated on the surface, but what really alarmed the two were the figures slowly rising in the water. Each of them looked different. Some had horns on their heads, some had scales covering their bodies, some had faces twisted like ghosts, and some only had half a face. Each of them looked like a monster that had stepped out of a painting of a hundred ghosts walking at night.

Water-dripping kimonos, mutilated limbs, long tongues floating in mid-air, skin pale from being soaked in water, chains dragging behind—all sorts of things covered the entire riverbank, in countless numbers.

Haibara Yu looked over, his lips twitching slightly: "This number... there must be over a hundred, right? And each one looks exactly like a monster from the legendary Night Parade of One Hundred Demons!"

Hiromi Hiraka watched as a small portion of the figures of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons had already climbed onto the riverbank and were dragging their wet bodies toward the commercial street: "So, whether you want to go find your senior or not, you have to ask them for their permission first."

He twirled the gavel in his hand, and without waiting for Nanami and Haibara's reply, he jumped off the edge of the rooftop first.

Nanami and Haibara exchanged a glance, said nothing more, and then jumped off the rooftop at the same time.

In the distance, in another, even more distant direction.

On the top floor of a hotel, the hem of a coat fluttered in the wind, revealing the silhouettes of three people inside. The man in front had an odd hairstyle, deep dark circles under his eyes, and a bloody mark on the bridge of his nose that looked like an old wound. His features were strong, and he had a calm demeanor that was out of place with his surroundings. At this moment, his gaze was fixed on the distant horizon, and his pupils contracted slightly.

"—My brothers are dead." His voice was low and calm, but beneath that calm lay an undercurrent, like magma accumulating deep within the earth's crust.

Behind him, an old man with his hands behind his back slowly walked forward. He had short, gray hair and a face full of wrinkles, but his eyes were like two pebbles sunk in deep water, calm and dark.

The old man glanced at another figure standing on the windowsill next to him. It was a pink-haired boy who was curiously watching the guards and pedestrians not far away, as if the conversation around him had nothing to do with him.

The old man spoke, his voice hoarse: "Isn't your brother here?"